Game board



, Aug. '11, 1925. 1,549,038

A. C. WILSON GAME BOARD Filed Jan. 5. 1 2 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 jot/612%):

Aug. 11, 1925.

A. c. WILSON GAME BOARD 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. 5. 9 2

Patented Aug. 11, 1925.

NITED ST 'E" m are ARTHUR C. WILSON, OF PORTSMOUTH, NEW HAMPSHIRE, ASSIGNOR 9F FOUR-TENTI-IS TO FRANK Gr. WILSON, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

' GAMEBOARD.

Application filed January 5, 1922. serial No. 527,157.

I 0 all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, ARTHUR C. VVILsoN, a

. citizen of the United States of America, anda resident of Portsmouth, in the county of Rockingham and State of New Hampshire, and whose post-ol'lice address is Portsmouth, N. H., general delivery, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Game Boards, of which the following is a specification.

This'invention relates to a game board or table wherein the player rolls a series of balls with the object in view of causing them to pass into stalls, pockets or even to hit objects to knock them down or to cause electrical contacts to be made.

An object of the invention is to provide a game board or table so constructed andarranged as to cause the player to exert skill and a degree of science not heretofore re-' quired in games of this class.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a game board of this class that may be made in various sizes either portable for home use, or on a large scale and permanent, such for instance as the well known bowling alley.

The invention further consists in certain novel features of construction and arrange ment which will be fully understood from a description of the drawings and the claims hereinafter given. I

Of the drawings:

Figure 1 represents in perspective view one form of game board or table embodying the invent-ion.

Figure 2 a vertical longitudinal section on approximately the line 22 Figure 1 Figure 3 a section on the line 33 Fig ure 1.

a section on the line 5-5 Fig- Figure 4 a section on the line tl Fig- 11 which are shown as broken away for convenience of illustration.

The table top or runway 14 which in this instance is the principal feature of the invention isof novel arrangement, the points of juncture of the rails 12 and 18 and the board 1 1 are in the same plane, but the median line 15 of the said board is inclined downwardly from the rail 18 toward the head board 16. The angle of incline varying from the maximum at the median line, decreasing gradually as the side rails 12 are approached, till the said rails and board join, at which junction the three boundaries cfsaid board let are in one plane.

This arrangement necessarily gives a transverse pitch to the board toward the median line 15, said pitch varying from Zero at the junction of the rail 13, to the maximum, at the head board 16.

The surface of the board 14 each. side of the median line 15, might be likened to two sheets of material, the boundaries of which on three sides are in the same plane, theends of. which adjacent the head board 16 have had a twist imparted thereto, one to the right and the other to the left, of ap proximately 18 degrees.

The head board 16 is provided with a series of openings or stalls 17, the object being to pass a ball through one of the stalls. As these stalls will be numbered, and the higher numbers will correspond to the stalls which are the most diflicult to pass a ball. through, a person using a given number of balls totalling the highest score wins the game. The portion of the board 1% to the right of the head board 16, see Figure 2, is arranged to direct the balls so passed to an incline 18 to be later delivered tov a chute 19 where they may be directed to a receptacle of any sort handy to the player stationed at the rail 13. For convenience the head board having the stalls with numbers over them is one of the many ways in which the particular form of board or table 14 may be used, but it will be understood that objects may be used to be toppled over in place of the stalls, or electrical contacts arranged to be struck by the balls as may be desired, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

So, too, instead of shaping the table top as shown it may partake of a form illustrated by the lower inner surface of a hollow cone horizontally laid with the smaller end toward the player and somewhat fiattened out to meet the requirements as seen by viewing Figure 6.

With a table top such as herein shown and explained it will be obvious that it is no simple matter to so control the ball that the highest possible score may be made; in fact considerable skill and even science must be brought into play to acquire even a fair score.

It is not known that a table top of this description has ever been used and therefore it is not the intention to limit the invention to the precise construction or arrangement thereof, but rather to claim broadly a game board or table wherein the structure is such as to expose a ball rolled thereover to the action of gravity whereby said ball will be diverted laterally of its projected path.

Having described the invention 1 claim:

1. A game board of the class described, having an unbroken elongated surface over which balls are adapted to be rolled, said surface having three edges thereof in approximately the same plane and arranged to recede therefrom in two directions laterally and one direction longitudinally whereby a ball upon being projected thereon will be gradually and increasingly laterally diverted from its projected path.

2. A game board of the class described, having a surface over which balls are adapted to be rolled, said surface at three edges thereof being in a given plane and sloping therefrol'n downwardly and inwardly at uniformly increasing angles from Zero at one end thereof to the maximum at the other end thereof whereby a ball upon being projected thereon will be diverted laterally and downwardly from its projected path.

3. A game of the class described having a transverse upright at one end thereof, said upright having openings therein through which a ball is adapted to pass; and a ball runway, one end of which adjacent the said upright being transversely inclined, said incline progressively diminishing uniformly upon approaching the other end thereof whereby a ball projected upon said runway will be diverted laterally and downwardly from its projected path.

4. A game of the class described having a transverse upright at one end thereof having openings therein through which a ball is adapted to pass; a ball runway being transversely inclined inwardly and downwardly at one end adjacent the said upright, said incline progressively diminishing uniformly upon approaching the other end thereof; and a counterpart runway, the lower inclined edge of which abuts a corresponding edge of the said first runway whereby a ball projected upon either runway will be diverted laterally and downwardly from its projected path.

5. A game board of the class described, consisting in part of two unbroken elongated surfaces joined at their inner edges, the junction at one end thereof being in a plane with their outer edges, and at the other end at a point below said outer edge plane thereby defining a ball runway longitudinally extended and providing a playing end and a goal end, toward the transversely central point of which the board inclines dowmvardly and both longitudinally and transversely, for purpose of a device wherein the element of skill may be applied for improved game play.

(3. A game board of the class described consisting in part of two helical surfaces joined at their inner edges, of such arrangement that the outer edges and one end thereof are in the same plane, whereby the line of juncture of said surfaces assumes an air gular relation to said plane thereby defining a ball runway longitudinally extended and providing a playing end and a goal end toward the transversely central point of which the board inclines downwardly and both longitudinally and transversely for purpose of a device wherein the element of skill may be applied for improved game play.

7. A game board of the class described having clear unbroken elongated helical surfaces higher at one end than at the other and adapted to increase the momentum of a ball projected thereon for approximately the length of said board and in the general direction of its projection, said surface also having an inward slope so arranged as to increasingly expose a ball so projected, to the action of gravity for approximately the length of said board.

Signed by me at Boston, Mass, this 13th day of December, 1921.

ARTHUR C. \VILSON. 

